Special K

I have an irrational fascination with and love for 70s style, and I am continually puzzled by Amanda's clothes. I loved the aspect of 70s style that was similar to the 50s in silhouette -- fitted waists and A-line skirts. Remember the prairie aesthetic? Or DVF bringing back the dress and creating the wrap dress as an icon. Things that honor the feminine silhouette. It was the golden age of feminism! Also: the skinny-sexy stuff and androgeny, like a Halston pants suit on a woman, or all those skinny white rocker boys like Mick Jagger. Disco! This is not the 70s that Amanda lived through, I guess. (I suspect she did not live through it; not sure of her age.) She seems to have lived through the same era as Mrs Roper!

There's something "off" about the whole flint-gate. When Drew tries to barter with JP, he says that the "new" flint hadn't ever been struck -- it was completely unused and therefore tradeable. So are we to believe that in all the time since they got the second flint they did not have to start a fire? Did they keep a fire burning? I'm confused by how they could have anything other than two used flints at their camp. Of course, it was Drew making the statement so it was probably BS.

Didn't they used to have three months to put together their final collections? On the subject of the sponsors, I have watched this entire season and I still have no idea whether Aldo is a shoe/handbag manufacturer or just an accessories retail store. And I have never seen a Red Robin anywhere except on TV. It must be regional.

I just read that Reality TV magazine interview, and a few things stand out. He was not a fan of the show and got on because his modeling agent recommended he try out for it. Fer crissakes! Is Survivor now considered a modeling gig? Also, as I was reading the interview, I was struck by how odd he sounded. So I looked at the syntax and realized that about 80% of his sentences, If not more, are constructed in the simple subject+verb+object, etc., style. In the first half of the interview or so, nearly every single sentence he speaks is in this style (the subject, it will not surprise you to learn, is most often "I"). That's just not how people speak, really. That might be one reason it sounds so awkward. In addition to what ProfCrash pointed out regarding his word usage.

FWIW, KimberStormer, I always enjoyed Coach, too. What a moronic wackadoodle. Good times!!

Every woman should have a sports-bra-type top available to them for challenges, like the Twinnie is wearing. I actually feel sorry for Julie in that ridiculously small bikini. She was even wearing it at TC! Usually they put on more clothes for that. I sincerely hope that TPTB didn't single Julie out and make her wear just a bikini and buff to TC. Imagine sitting for hours on that wooden post with your butt hanging out. It seems that, in the past, "older" women are given more leeway in the bikini-top department. Trish (not sure if that's her name, Pilates teacher from Boston) was super thin and fit, yet her "bikini top" was a sports bra (that I actually also own from Lululemon). Of course she was accused of looking like a man, so maybe the producers don't care. That ER doc in Marty/Sash's season (can't remember her name), the competitive cyclist with the red hair, she actually wore a one-piece bathing suit. Do the male watchers of this show really enjoy watching woman hitching up their bikini tops during the challenges? ETA: I think it's hilarious (and pathetic) that I remember Trish's bra top but am not sure about her name. :)

The ironic thing is that his perception that the women were going to gang up on him -- which wasn't actually true -- became the reality, through his own actions.

Sometimes misogynists call women babies. And sometimes they call them witches. History is full of examples...

IMO, the best responses to the insufferable "why should you go to Fashion week" question are when people say things like: I have a lot I'd like to show you and the world. PR aims to put on a spectacular show and I think I could really contribute to making an exciting runway show this year. And I think I would represent the PR brand well by showing great new designs while demonstrating integrity and professionalism. Seriously, when asked "why should we give you X" you should always think about what the other party wants. It's a basic negotiation skill!

Geez, this show is a veritable explosion of prejudicial attitudes, isn't it? One would be hard-pressed to think of one not expressed so far this season. God bless America, I guess. Meanwhile, given how rabid the blue tribe was about John Rocker, it would seem a no-brainer to keep him until the merge. With numbers down, and a pagonging possible, he would have made a great big doofus-shaped shield for that first, post-merge TC. Of course, having the idol does change things, and they were probably smart to take the chance when they had it. I kinda loved how Julie kept referring to "my boyfriend John" amid her tears. Of course that was producer-directed to differentiate him from Jon, right? Like how in that previous season, everyone would say "Kelly B." as if people really speak that way. And though I go back and forth on Jeremy, and think he is probably a hot-head, I kind of loved hearing him exclaim "He's a moron!" about Drew/Alex in the preview for next week. For some reason that just made me laugh like a 12-year-old.

Except that the thunderbird myth is more commonly thought of as from the Pacific Northwest, which is more, I think, where Korina comes from anyway, right? I actually wish that if Korina was going to be snarky, she would have channeled it into schooling the judges about the fact that "Native American" is not a monolith of style. Of course, even if she had done, it would never get past the editors. So we'll never know! It's kind of like on Top Chef when they talk about "Asian" food. Having said all that, why, oh why didn't they put one of those cute tiny bowler hats on their "Peruvian" fashion photographer? That would have made my day. I actually laughed out loud when they showed all three of Korina and Emily's looks on screen at the same time. The hell were they thinking?!?

On a non-Korina/Char topic... Was anyone else cringeing at the poor models having to wear storage-locker fabrics, cast-offs, etc., possibly infested with bed bugs? This is NYC. We have bed bugs. Even the movie theaters and Victoria's Secret have had bed bugs. We give furniture left on the curb a v-e-r-y wide berth. Those things can live for 6 months without eating!! Just me, then? O-kay....

Actually, the place they have been holding the reward challenges (with one competitor from each team) looks to me a lot like the Redemption Island arenas of yore.

While being impressed with Bethany, I couldn't help but notice that she doesn't seem to wear a bra (while running). At first I thought maybe it was because of her arm/shoulder, but she was seen carrying a backpack with both straps. Meanwhile, I remember Whitney ("You disgust me!") and Keith from Survivor. She was billed as a (minor) country-music star on Survivor.

I give Josh credit for keeping his offense-taking over the "one of the girls" business to himself and not confronting Nadiya. He's a Survivor fan. He probably knows that in the first few days, ANY reason to have something think negatively about you can get you voted off. Better to keep your own counsel.